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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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Copy 1 



64th Congress } 
1st Session ) 



SENATE 



Document 
No. 307 



Mount Kearsarge and Mount Pequawket 
New Hampshire 



fflSTORICAL NOTES 

RELATING TO THE CONFLICTING NAMES OF MOUNT 

KEARSARGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET 

NEW HAMPSHIRE 

SUBMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOARD AT THE 

SUGGESTION OF SENATOR J. H. GALLINGER, TOGETHER WITH 

THE DECISION OF THE BOARD IN REGARD THERETO 



Compiled by 
DAVID M. HILDRETH 

Topographer, Post Office Department, Member United States Geographic Board 




PRESENTED BY MR. GALLINGER 

February 3, 1916.— Ordered to be printed 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1916 



^2 



D. of D. 
MAY 3 1916 



PREFACE. 



The fact that there were two mountains in New Hampshire, one 
in Merrimack County and the other in Carroll County, both bearing 
the name of Kearsarge, was first brought to the attention of the 
United States Geographic Board by Senator Gallinger, of New Hamp- 
shire, in the following letter: 

United States Senate, 
Washington, D. C, December 26, 1914. 
Gentlemen: The mountain in Merrimack County, N. H., which has 1 een known 
by the name of Kearsarge from time immemorial, is near my summer home at Salis- 
bury Heights, and I feel much interest in the name. Of late years a mountain in 
North Conway is also made to 1 ear the name of Kearsarge. As I recall the matter, 
the Conway mountain once went 1 ythenameof "Pequawket,"and if Imistakenot it 
was also known at one time 1 y the name of '' Kiarsarge," 1 ut on that point I may 1 e 
mistaken. I believe the mountains are about the same height, 3,400 feet or there- 
at outs. I will greatly appreciate a statement from your 1 card as to the proper naming 
of those two mountains, for manifestly they ought not to lear identically the same 
name. 
Appreciating an early reply, I lieg to remain, 

Very respectfully, yours, 

J. H. Gallinger, U. S. S. 
The Unitei) States Geographic Board, 

Washington, D. C. 

Upon receipt of the above letter the board undertook the collection 
of historical data relating to the matter, a compilation of which will 
be found in the following pages. 

3 



MOUNT KEARSARGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET, NEW 

HAMPSHIRE. 



Kearsarge: Name of a mountain in Merrimack County, New 
Hampshire. 

This mountain is first shown and named on Gardner's map of a 
survey of the Merrimack River, ordered by the General Court of 
Massachusetts in 1638, and made in the spring of 1639 by Nathaniel 
Woodward. It is called "Carasaga." In this surveying party were 
two Natick Indians and Carasaga is thought to mean in the dialect 
of that tribe, "Notchpointed Mountain of Pines." This map is in 
the archives of the Essex (Mass.) County Commissioners. ("As to 
Kearsarge," p. 10.) 

Mount Kearsarge is shown on a map of a survey made in 1652 for 
the commissioners appointed by Gov. Endicott to determine the head 
or source of the Merrimack River, for the purpose of locating the 
northern boundary of the Massachusetts Colony. It is also called 
"Carasaga." (Harriman's History of Warner, N. H., p. 35.) 

In a journal of a scouting party commanded by Samuel Willard, of 
Lancaster, Mass., in July, 1725, this mountain was seen and called 
^'Cu-sa-gee." The Carroll County mountain was also seen and called 
^'Pigwacket." (Mass. Archives 38 A — Appapachia, vol. 1, p. 154.) 

A plan of Kearsarge Gore, now a part oi the town of Warner, New 
Hampshire, made by Col. Henry Gerish, about 1751, bears the fol- 
lowing title: "A plan of Kaysarge Gore, near Kysarge." (History 
of Warner, p. 36.) 

On a map of a survey made in 1753 of the town of Andover by 
W. B. Clough, the mountain is shown and named "Ciersarge — a 
mountain large." A note on the margin says "Cor-Sarge: a moun- 
tain large. By the Indians Cowissewaschook." This map is now on 
file in the office of the Secretary of State of New Hampshire. (Pro- 
ceedings New Hampshire Historical Society, vol. 1, p. 149.) 

Thomas Jeffrey's map, published in England in 1755 from surveys 
made in 1750 by Mitchell and Hazzen, shows the mountain and spells 
the name "Kyarsarge." 

On a map of New Hampshire by Joseph Blanchard and Samuel 
Langdon (afterwards president of Harvard College), published in 
1761, this mountain is shown and called "Kya-sa-ge." No name is 
given to the Carroll County mountain. 

On a map made by Samuel Holland, the King's surveyor of New 
Hampshire, 1773-74, and published at London in 1784, Kearsarge is 
correctly shown and called "Kyar Sarga — by the Indians, Cowisse- 
waschook." The Carroll County mountain is shown but no name 
given to it. 

In June, 1793, the Legislature of New Hampshire passed an act "To 
set off sundry lots of land from a place called "Kear Sarge," which 



6 MOUNT KEAKSARGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET, NEW HAMPSHIEE. 

was located on the side of Mount Kearsarge and between the towns of 
SaHsbury and Sutton. ("As to Kearsarge," and History of Warner, 

p. 11.) 

The map accompanying the report of the first census of New Hamp- 
shire, 1790, printed by John Reid in 1796, shows this mountain as 
"Kyarsarga Mountain." No other mountain with a similar name 
is shown on this map. This report, "Heads of Families," is printed 
again by the Census Bureau in 1907. This report also gives a list of 
"Heads of Families" in the Town of Kearsarge Gore. 

Map accompanying Belknap's History of New Hampshire, pub- 
lished in 1791, gives "Kyasarge Mountain." 

"Kyarsarge" is given on the Bohn or Stotzman map printed 1796 
at Hamberg, Germany. 

"Kyarsarge" on Samuel Lewis's map published in 1813. No name 
given to the Carroll County mountain. 

"Kearsarge" on Carrigain's map of New Hampshire printed in 1816, 
which was authorized by the Legislature. 

The Committee on Towns and Parishes of New Hampshire Legisla- 
ture of 1876 made the following report: 

"From evidence submitted it appears there are two mountains in 
New Hampshire now known by the name of "Kearsarge" — one in 
Merrimack and the other in Carroll County — and the orthography of 
the word, like that of others derived from the Indians, has undergone 
various changes. 

"On the elaborate English map by Blanchard and Langdon, from 
surveys made in 1761 and published in 1768, the name Kyasage is 
given to the mountain in Merrimack County. The Holland map in 
1784 gives the name Kyar Sarga to the mountain in Merrimack 
County, and no name to that in Carroll County; and your committee 
are unanimously of the opinion that the mountain in Merrimack 
County is justly entitled to the name of 'Kearsarge.'" 

This mountain has always been shown on all maps, surveys, in all 
histories and registers of New Hampshire in the same locality, bearing 
practically the same name, the variations of spelling being no more 
than is usually found with Indian names. 

Pequawket: Mountain in Carroll County, New Hampshire. 

This mountain is first mentioned and located in the Journals of 
two scouting expeditions into New Hampshire by Capt. Samuel 
Willard in 1725. (Mass. Archives 38A — Appalachia, vol. 1, p. 154.) 

The earliest map that shows it by name is the small map accom- 
panying Belknap's History of New Hampshire, published in 1791. 
The name is spelled "Kyarsarge." 

Belknap wrote a Journal of a tour of the White Mountains, made 
in July, 1784, which was accompanied by a sketch map on which 
this mountain is named "Kyarsarge," but this was not published 
until 1876 by the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Neither the Reid map of 1796, accompanying the Census of 1790, 
or the Lewis map of 1813 gives any name to this mountain. 

The Carrigain map of 1816, which was prepared by direction of 
the Legislature of New Hampshire, from the original charters and 
plans of the towns of the State (Carrigain was sometime Secretary 



MOUNT KEARSAEGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET, NEW HAMPSHIEE. 7 

of the State) gives the following as the name of this mountain: 
"Pigwacket Mt., formerly Kiarsarge." 

The Edward Kuggles map of 1817 ^ives only "Pigwacket Mt." 

Finley's Atlas, publishecl at Philadelphia in 1824 and 1831, gives 
no name to this momitain. 

"Pigwacket Mt." on Goodno's map of 1833. 

"The History of the White Mountams" by Rev. B. G. WiUey, ^ 
native of the region, published in 1856, calls the mountain "Pequaw-* 
ket." (P. 205.) 

Star King in his "White Hills," published in 1859, page 150, statesj 
"And nearer swells the symmetrical Kiarsarge, the queenly mountain 
of New Hampshire, which, when the Indian titles were expunged 
from the grand range, should have been christened 'Martha Wash- 
ington.' The true Indian name of this charming pyramid is 
'Pequawket.'" 

"New Hampshire as it Is," by Charlton and Ticknor, 1855, states 
"Pequawket Mountain is situated in Bartlett." 

"Mt. Pequawket (Kiarsarge)" is the manner that Prof. C. H, 
Hitchcock shows the mountain on the map that he had prepared 
largely from original sources to accompany his "Geology of New 
Hampshire," published in 1876. 

The large raised model map of the State in the State House at 
Concord, prepared by the authority of the Legislature, bearing the 
date of 1877, by Prof, Hitchcock, gives "Pequawket" as the name 
of this mountain. 

"Mt. Pequawket," Eastman's White Mountain Guide, 1872. 

"Mt. Pequawket or Kiarsarge," WaUing's Atlas, 1877. 

"Mt. Pigwacket," Colton's Atlas, 1871 and 1878. 

"Mt. Kiarsarge," Colton's Atlas, 1883. 

The History of Carroll County by G. D. Merrill, published in 1889, 
age 108, gives "Mt. Kiarsarge (Kearsarge) or Pequawket" at the 
ead of the paragraph describing this mountain. 

"Mt. Kearsarge North," Coast Survey, 1878. 

"Mt. Kearsarge North," U. S. Geological Survey, 1896. 

"Mt. Kearsarge or Pequawket" is given on a map of Carroll County ^ 
published by George H. Walker in 1902. 

"Mt. Kiarsarge North," The Century Atlas, 1902. 

"Mt. Pequawket," Cram's Atlas, 1905. 

APPALACHIAN CLUB. 

A committee appointed by the Appalachian Club, with Prof. Fay aa 
chairman, made a report concerning the true name of the northerly 
Kearsarge on April 11, 1877, from which the following may be quoted: 

"Were the question one of simple priority, it would seerti ta 
present but little difficulty in its solution. It is incontestable tha^ 
the Merrimack County mountain (U. I.) was known by the name of 
Carasaga Mountain as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, 
as shown from an ancient map of that period in the Essex Co. (Mass.) 
Archives. It would be an ungracious task to attempt to prove that 
the modern name Kearsarge is not a direct descendant from this 
name." In conclusion, "The committee then find that there are two 
mountains in New Hampshire which at present bear the same name, 
Kearsarge: that so far as they are able to judge, the name is equally 



8 MOUNT KEARSARGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET, NEW HAMPSHIBE. 

the original name of both, and handed down by unbroken and 
rehablc tradition; that another name, Pigwacket, with several varia- 
tions of orthography — an appellation which, as it appears, was 
formerly applied to a group of hills some miles to the southeast — 
has also been quite frequently applied to the Carroll County mountain 
since 1816, sometimes alone, but often jomed with the other title, 
and more especially upon maps that are recognized as good autho'r- 
ities, and in gazetteers, and in virtue of this must be considered a 
name for the same, although the other seems to have over it the 
advantages of priority and especially of general local usage." 

From the discussion that followed the above report the following 
may be quoted (Appal, vol. 1, p. 202): 

''Mr. Emery then presented evidence to show that the name 
Kearsarge, or its equivalent, was applied to the Merrimack County 
mountain much earlier than to that in Carroll County. Also that the 
name Pequawket was applied to the latter earlier than the name 
Kearsarge. From which he argued that the name Kearsarge belonged 
of right to the Merrimack County mountam, and that the true name 
of the Carroll County mountain was Pequawket. 

"Prof. Hitchcock offered evidence to show that the Carroll County 
mountain had been popularly known as Pequawket, and that the 
name Kearsarge had been given it by settlers coming from the 
vicinity of the Merrimack County mountain. He therefore favored 
the name Pequawket for the former as a means of distinguishing it 
from the latter, especially for scientific purposes. 

"Mr. Worcester said that, until within a few years, the name of the 
Carroll County mountain had been Kiarsarge, not Kearsarge. The 
village at its foot, which was named from it, was Kiarsarge Village, 
and all the old guideboards had that spelling, which was also used by 
the hotel on the summit, and until recently by the hotel of the same 
name in North Conway. He thought that at least that distinction 
should be retained between this mountain and that in Merrimack 
County. He proposed as a compromise, and as perhaps aiding in 
finally changing the name of the former to Pequawket, that it be 
called 'the Pequawket Kearsarge.' " 

NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The New Hampshire Historical Society appointed a committee 
consisting of Dr. N. Bouton, the historian of the State; J. M. 
Shirley, and G. V. Fox, at its annual meeting June 11, 1877, on the 
name Kearsarge, to report such facts as they may be able to collect 
at a future meeting of the society. After two years' labor of research 
a carefully prepared report was submitted to the society at its 
annual meetmg June 11, 1879, the conclusion being that the name 
Kearsarge belongs of right exclusively to the mountain in Merrimack 
County. The committee recornmended the following preamble and 
resolution (Proceedings vol. 1, p. 181): 

"Whereas of two mountains in the State of New Hampshire called 
by the name of Kearsarge or Kiarsarge, the question has arisen to 
which the name more properly belongs; and whereas the judgment 
of the New Hampshire Historical Society has been requested on the 
subject: Therefore 



MOUNT KEARSARGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET^ NEW HAMPSHIRE. 9 

'^Resolved, (1) That, after a full and impartial examination of his- 
torical evidence, this society finds that the mountain called by said 
name in Merrimack County has been known and called by that 
name, alone and invariably — with variations in spelling — more than 
150 years, or since September, 1725; that the mountain so called in 
Carroll County was first kno%vn or designated as 'Pequawkett', and 
was never known or called Kearsarge until subsequent to 1780, or 
after the settlement of that section of country by people chiefly from 
Merrimack County, 1765-1775. 

''Resolved, (2) That to avoid confusion in geographical names 
within the State, we regard it as desirable that the said two moun- 
tains should be definitely distinguished by some proper authoiity; 
and inasmuch as the prior name of the one is historically fixed, both 
on maps and in %vi'itten records, and that of the other is more recent 
and belongs to a portion of the State known in all our early annals 
as the 'Pequawkett' — famous also in historic events — therefore, in 
the opinion of this society, it would be highly appropriate and honor- 
able that the name by which it was first designated, and by which it 
was called on the maps published by authority of the State in 1816, 
by Philip Carrigain, Esq., should be retained, viz., Pequawkett 
Mountain." 

Final action on this report was not apparently taken until the 
annual meeting of 1885 when it was voted, "That the matter per- 
taining to the name Kearsarge be left as reported by the committee 
at the annual meeting in 1879." And the said report as published 
was adopted. (Letter of Supt. of N. H. Hist. Societv, March 29, 
1915.) 

At the meeting of 1879 a minority report was presented by Mr. G. V. 
Fox in opposition to the majority report, but this report so far as the 
records show, received no consideration from the society and was not 
published. (Idem.) 

The Secretary read a letter from Dr. Bouton of the New Hampshire 
Historical Society testifying that, so far as he knew, the members of 
that society were ''Unanimously of the opinion that the true and 
only 'Kearsarge' was that in Merrimack Co." He remarked that 
upon all the old maps the name in question, when applied to either 
mountain, was spelled "Kiarsarge," or in some way necessitating the 
pronunciation of the first syllable. Also that, on several of the 
oldest of those maps, tlie name was applied to the Merrimack County 
mountain, while that in Carroll County was left nameless. 

Belknap states in his "Tour of the White Mountains," 1784, 
that he copied the sketch map from one belonging to Col. Whip- 
ple, who was one of the party. Col. Whipple then lived in what 
is now the town of Jefferson, but formerly lived in the southern 
part of the State. He was associated with John Moffat, who was a 
land owner in about 30 towns in New Hampshire, and owTied three 
of the 100-acre lots in Kearsarge Gore. It is believed that Whipple 
was familiar with these lands as well as the locality of Kearsarge 
Mountain. In this manner he might have applied its name on his 
sketch of the Carroll County mountain. This would explain how 
Belknap's map of New Hampshire came to have two mountains 
bearing the same name of Kyarsarge. (N. H. Hist. Society, vol. 1, 
p. 160.) 



10 MOUNT KEARSARGE AKD MOUNT PEQUAWKET^ NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Concord, N. H., March 29, 1915. 
Mr, D. M. HiLHRETii, 

Washington, T). 0. 

Dear Shi : I have your communication ot the 27th in regard to the 
action of this societ}^ in the matter of tiie name of Kearsarge Mountain. 

Referring to the proceedings of this society, volume 1, j'ou will 
notice that the report on this subject, submitted by Mr. flohn M. 
Shirley, and published on pages 136-181 , is the report of the majorit}^ 
of the committee appointed to investigate this subject. The resolu- 
tions printed on page 181 form a part ot this report, and their adoption 
is recommended by the committee. 

Final action on this report was not apparently taken until the 
meeting of 1885, when it was voted "that the matter pertaining to 
the name Kearsarge be left as reported by the committee at the annual 
meeting in 1879,'' and the said report as published was adopted. 
(»See Proceedings, a^oI. 1 , p. 371 .) 

At the meeting of 1879 a minorit^^ report was apparently presented 
by Mr. G. V, Fox in opposition to the majority report by Mr. Shirley, 
but this minority report, so far as the records show, received no 
consideration from this society and was not published. 

1 should say without hesitation that the society by voting in 1885 
to adopt Mr. Shirle^^'s report of 1879, thereby indorsed and adopted 
the resolutions which were appended as a part of that report. 

Personally, and as a member of this society for many years, I can 
assure you that no proposition involving the application of the name 
Kearsarge to the Carroll County mountain ever receivea the slightest 
degree of indorsement or approval in this society'. 
Sin(;erely, yours, 

Otis G, Hammond, Supt. 

united states battleship "kearsarge." 

As to the naming of the battleship (corvette) Kearsarge: The 
records of the Navy Department do not show how the name became 
selected. The Boston Journal of June 4, 1801, states: "Dispatches 
from Washington give the names o^ the new sloops of war — the 
Kearsarge, Ossipee, Housatonic, WacJiusetts, Adirondack, Juniata, and 
Tuscarora. Kearsarge is a well-known mountain in Merrimack 
County, New Hampshire, about twenty miles northwest of Concord. 
There is another mountain north of Lake Winnipiseogee, which 
modern tourists have confounded with the true one." 

The New Hampshire Statesman for June 8, 1861, prints the fol- 
lowing: "Of the new sloops of war built at Portsmouth, one will be 
named Ossipee and the other Kearsarge. These are Indian words 
but, unlike many of that dialect, pass easily over the tongue. Kear- 
sarge was suggested to the naval department by one of the publishers 
of this ])aper. He wrote that as the Alerrimaclc was burned at Nor- 
lolk, it would be gratifying to New Ham]>shire folks to be again 
rememl)ored in this matter of names of national vessels, and, in pre- 
senting Kearsarge, said it was an isolated and imposing eminence in 
the center of the State, in the midst o«" a loval jieople, and that youno 



MOUNT KEAESAEGE AND MOUxVT PEQUAWKET, NEW HAMPSHIRE. H 

Ladd, who fell at BiJtimore, crying, 'All hail to the stars and 
stripes/ was buried almost vdthiii its shadow, at Alexandria." 

The Army and Navy Journal, 1804, has the foUoAviug; "Kearsarge 
Mountain, from whicli Capt. Winslow's vessel receives its immortal 
name, is the highest mountain in the county of Merrimack, New 
Hampshire.'' 

There are many other newspapers making mention to the same 
})urport. There ar(; iione stathig that the lionor belongea to the 
Carroll County mountain, which at this period bore the name of 
Pequawket or Kiarsarge; neither was it so well known, which is very 
conclusive evidence that it could not have been the mountain after 
which the ship was named. 

It is also stated that tlie selection of a name for this vessel was 
referred to Gov. Gilmore, of New Ham]3shhe, with the suggestion to 
select an Indian name. He left the matter to his secretary, who was 
his son, Joseph H. Gilmore, who has since been for many years a 
professor in the Rochester University at Rochester, New York. He 
suggested ''Kearsarge," the name of the mountain in Merrimack 
County, which he was familiar with and sov,' every day as he went 
to and from the statehouse. (A. P. Davis, the Manchester Daily 
Mirror, Feb, 24, ISOG.) This statement is confirmed by the following 
letter: 

The University of Rochester, 

Rochester, N. Y., April 2,1915. 

Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of March 31, I would say that, 
when my father was governor of New Hampshire, we received word 
from Washington that it had been decided to give Indian names to 
a certain class of cruisers, and that the governors of the loyal States 
were requested to suggest such names. 

I was his secretary at that time, and he turned the matter over to 
me. I made out a list of Indian names, which was duly forwarded 
to the Navy Department. 

The first name on my list was Kearsarge — not unnaturally; for, 
in driving to and from the statehouse every day (I resided in Pena- 
cook) I had a magnificent view of Mount Kearsarge in Merrimack 
County — which was the only Kearsarge that I or my father knew 
anything about. 

Very truly, yours, 

J. H. Gilmore. 

Mr. D. M. HiLDRETH, 

Washington, D. C. 

The white-oak tunl)er for the building of the Kearsarge was cut 
from the slopes or in sight of the Merriinacl-c County Kearsarge. 
(Granite Monthly Magazine, vol. 15, p. 145.) It is the testimony of 
many distinguished ]ieople now living that it was the general and 
common knowledge that the ship was named for this mountain. 
(Ex-Senator Chandler of New Hampshire and many others.) 

The Kearsarge became famous by defeating and sinking the Ala- 
hama June 19, 1864. After that event a large hotel was built on the 
side of the Merrimack County mountain and named in honor of the 
ship's captain, the " Winslow House." That hotel was destroyed by 
fire in 1867 and rebuUt on a larger plan. Admiral Winslow was 
given a reception in the first house and was present at the opening 
of the second (Aug. 18, 1868), when he gave the owner a large flag 



12 MOUNT KEAKSARGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET, NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

and a picture of tho battle that was painted in France. Notable 
people were present, including the governor of the State, as well as 
many prominent citizens, who took part in the festivities and ad- 
dresses, in which references were made to the ship and its namesake. 

"V\Tiilo xVdmiral Wins low lived he spent many of his summers on 
this mountain, and when he died, in 1873, a large bowlder was taken 
from its side to serve as his monument, with a bronze tablet attached, 
on which is inscribed a befitting memorial inscription, stating near 
the end, "This bowlder from Kearsarge Mountain, Merrimack County, 
New Hampshire, is the gift of the citizens of Warner, New Hamp- 
shire." 

No claim was ever made in behalf of the Carroll County mountain 
until 1875, about which time a railroad was built through the White 
Mountain Notch nearby, and the locality became a summer resort. 
At this time Mr. G. V. Fox, of Lowell, Mass., became a summer resi- 
dent of the said locality (North Conway) and became most active 
in presenting the claims in behalf of this mountain, for the honors 
appertaining to the older-named mountain. He even claimed that 
the Merrimack County mountain was not entitled to the name of 
Kearsarge. (Appalachia, vol. 1, p. 202.) He wrote the article on 
"Kearsarge" in Johnson's Encyclopedia (ed. 1875), which seems to 
be the basis for the one in the "International Encyclopedia of 1911." 
He claims, 14 years after the event, that it was on the suggestion of 
his wife that Secretary Welles named the vessel. He admits later 
that he received the letter of Major McFarland, of the "Statesman," 
May 31 or June 1 , 1861 , suggesting the name of Kearsarge. Secretary 
Welles, in a letter of Sept. 27, 1875, states: "I first directed that the 
corvette should be called Kearsarge: but Mr. Chase (Secretary of the 
Treasury), a New Hampshire man, corrected my pronunciation and 
orthography. We had, I recollect, a little dispute, and I quoted 
Gov. Hdl; but Mr. Chase convinced me he was correct." This seems 
to indicate that the final designation was fixed by the aid of Secretary 
Chase, who lived as a boy near and in sight of the Merrimack County 
mountain, in Cornish. The Carroll County mountain was known at 
that time by the name of Pequawket or Kiarsarge, and being near to 
other higher peaks of the White Mountains and before the railroad was 
built to its vicinity, was not so well known. Therefore it must have 
been the Merrimack County mountain that gave the name to the 
warship. 

A writer over the name of "Hawser" in the Boston Journal for 
September 4, 1874, speaking of Kearsarge Mountain in Merrimack 
County, says: "The name of this mountain was given to the United 
States gunboat which under the command of that gallant officer, 
the late Admiral John A. Winslow, sank the privateer Alabama off 
Cherbourg after a short, sharp, and very decisive action, an action 
which, for the general interest and excitement it caused throughout 
the civilized world, has seldom been exceeded. 

"It often happens, unfortunately, that Kearsarge Mountain is con- 
founded with another mountain in a different part of New Hampshire, 
which is the cause of much perplexity to strangers. A mountain in 
North Conway, to which is attached no little celebrity, is of late years 
generally kno\^Ti as Mount Kiarsarge. Wliy the name Kiarsarge was 
given to the mountain in North Conway I have no knowledge. There 



MOUNT KEARSAEGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET^ NEW HAMPSHIEE. 13 

probably is some reason. I am confident that it has no legitimate 
right to that name. The good old Indian name of Pequawkett was 
formerly applied to a large tract of country in that neighborhood 
* * *. The mountain in North Conway called Kiarsarge and in 
some of the latest maps spelled Kearsarge was formerly known as 
Mount Pequawkett. When I visited that region more than thirty 
years ago, I heard nothing of Mt. Kiarsarge, but much of Mount 
Pequawkett, and I now humbly petition that, for obvious reasons, 
besides restoring a good old Indian name, the name of Kiarsarge be 
henceforth expunged from all guides, books, maps, and geographies 
as applied to the mountain in question and Pequawkett substituted." 
The following letter is of interest as bearing on the Indian origin 
of the name "Kearsarge." 

Smithsonian Institution, 
Bureau of American Ethnology, 

Washington, D. C, April 9, 1916. 
Dear Sir: In response to your communication of March 27th, I 
beg leave to say that your inquiry was referred to Mr. J. N. B. 
Hewitt, of this bureau, who gives the following information: 

"The words Carasaga and Cusagee and Kyrsarge are, hke 
Kearsarge, seemingly corruptions of the fuller form Cowissewas- 
chook, which in turn is apparently a different spelling of Kowa-is- 
atchu-ok, meaning "At the Mountain of Small (Young) Pines." 
Kearsarge as a name without the locative should signify "Mountain 
of Small (or Young) Pines." 
Very truly, yours, 

F. W. Hodge, 
Ethnologist in Charge. 

Mr. D. M. HiLDRETH, 

Washington, B.C. 

The summary facts about the names of these mountains can be 
thus stated: 

1. The Merrimack County mountain first received the name of 
Carasaga in 1639, eighty-six years before the Carroll County moun- 
tain was called "Pigwackett" in 1725. 

2. That the Merrimack County mountain has always been known 
by the same name. 

3. That the name "Pigwackett" was used for the Carroll County 
mountain in 1725. That "Pigwacket Hills" was used on Mitchell 
and Hazzen map of 1750 for hills or mountains in this vicinity. 

4. That "Pigwackett" was applied by the English from the name 
of the surrounding country, which was called after the Pequawket 
Tribe of Indians that dwelt therein. 

5. That later when the locality about this last mountam was 
occupied by settlers from towns in the vicinity of the older named 
mountain, because of a similarity of appearance, these settlers called 
it by the same name. 

6. The name Kearsarge or Kiarsarge has not been in general use 
for the Carroll County mountain. 

7. It was more generally kno^^^l as Pequawket before about 1860. 

8. After about 1860 Pequawket or Kiarsarge. 



14 MOUNT KEAESAEGE AND MOUNT PEQUAWKET, NEW HAMPSHIEE. 

9. Since 1875 only residents in its vicinity have been persistent 
in the use of the name of Kearsargo. 

10. Efforts have long been made by officials and prominent citi- 
zens as well as the Historical Society of the State, to have each bear 
a separate name; one Kearsarge and the other Pequawket. 

1 1 . The warship Kearsarge was named after the Merrimack County 
mountain. 

THE UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOARD, 

The United States Geographic Board at its meeting on January 6, 
1915, decided that Kearsarge was the proper name of the mountain 
located in Merrimack County and Pequawket of the one in CarroU 
County. Upon request and the further presentation of data re- 
lating to names of these mountains the ooard at its meeting on 
April?, 1915, reviewed and unanimously confirmed its former decision. 



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